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List Essays, 25 Things, Writing Prompts

In my last blog post, I mentioned a list essay, “25 things, post-election version,” by my friend and MFA classmate, writer Noria Jablonski, originally published as a note on Facebook the day after the election. I deactivated my Facebook account over the weekend (enough with all the cacophony!) so I can’t link to her note, but with her permission, I have shared it with both of my classes and also used it as the basis of a writing prompt (explained after Noria’s words). Here’s her list:

Normally I shy away from posting anything too personal, but this time isn’t normal.

A year and a half ago I was diagnosed with MS.

My professional life came to an abrupt end.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I currently have access to health insurance.

The medication I take to slow the progression of my disease costs $65,000/year.

A drug that has been used for years to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis recently showed promise for treating MS. That drug was not brought to market because the patent was about to expire.

I have profound hearing loss.

Hearing aids are not covered by most insurance companies (hearing aids are considered elective).

Healthcare should not be driven by profit motive.

Neither should education.

I became a teacher to help young people find their voices.

I became a writer to find mine.

“…it becomes strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love and battle and jealousy among the prime themes of literature…literature does its best to maintain that its concern is with the mind; that the body is a plain glass through which the soul looks straight and clear.” – Virginia Woolf, “On Being Ill”

On a Saturday night the spring before last, I suddenly lost vision in my left eye. Everything went dim, grainy, colorless, as if the brightness, contrast, and color knobs had been turned all the way down.

A few days later my right leg went numb.

Before MRI machines, a hot bath test was used to diagnose MS (heat worsens neurological symptoms).

On a trip to Paris several years ago, I visited the library of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, who is most famous for his study of hysteria.

Charcot was the first to give a name to multiple sclerosis: “la sclérose en plaques.”

Sclerosis means hardening. It refers to scar tissue formed by lesions of the brain and spinal cord.

What are some of your acts of resisting invisibility? Write a list of 25. Include specific numbers when possible. Here are some phrases and ideas to get started. Remember this is just an option and you are welcome to freewrite in response to the Adrienne Rich quote (which I included in the previous blog post) or either of the list essays.